A letter from Hrotsvit, nun of Gandersheim ()

Translated letter:

Mighty sovereign of the empire of the Caesars, Otto, who with the favoring piety of the eternal king, magnificent in the scepter of imperial honor, you surpass all previous emperors, whom many nations living far and wide fear, and the Roman world endows with various gifts. Do not scorn the small gift of this song, but let the offered wealth of praise please which the last of the flock of Gandersheim passes on to you, which the sweet care of your fathers collected, and the continuous zeal to serve owes to you. Perhaps many have written your deeds and many will write after these marks; but no one has offered me an example of them, nor have the writings of earlier books instructed me; the cause of this work is only devotion of mind, which persuaded me to dare the feared work. For there is fear that in singing your deeds I am incautiously following the false and not relating the true. But bad presumption of mind did not persuade me, nor did I willingly fail by a heightened contempt of truth. But the things happened as I wrote them, according to those who told me what to write. Let the piety of imperial honor not scorn this which the suppliant devotion of a humble mind produced; and if many books praising you fittingly are written after this and deservedly please, let this book not be the last in order, which was written first before there was any model. And though you hold the glory of the Ottonian empire, do not disdain to be called by the name of king until, with the honor of the royal life written in chonological order and with decorous speech, the imperial glory of the second scepter may be told.

Original letter:

Pollens imperii regnator caesariani, Oddo, qui regis pietate fovente perennis In sceptris augustalis praeclarus honoris Augustos omnes superas pietate priores, Quem plures gentes passim metuunt habitantes, Muneribus variis Romanus donat et orbis! Exiguum munus ne spernas carminis huius, Iste sed oblatus laudum placeat tibi census, Quem postrema gregis solvit tibi Gandeshemensis, Quem dulcis patrum collegit cura tuorum, Continuumque tibi debet studium famulandi. Forsan gestorum plures scripsere tuorum Et sunt scripturi post haec insignia multi: Sed non exemplum quisquam mihi praebuit horum, Nec scribenda prius scripti docuere libelli; Causa sed est operis tantum devotio mentis, Haec et ad audendum suadebat opus metuendum. Nam sat formido, quod gesta tui modulando Incaute sim falsa sequens, non vera retexens: Sed non hoc suasit mala mihi praesumptio mentis, Nec summa veri contempta sponte fefelli; Sed res, ut scripsi, sese sic prorsus habere Ipsi dicebant, mihi qui scribenda ferebant. Hinc augustalis pietas non spernat honoris, Quod supplex humilis gessit devotio mentis; Et, cum te libri laudantes congrue multi Post haec scribantur meritoque placere probentur: Ordine postremus non sit tamen iste libellus, Quem prius exemplo constat scriptum fore nullo; Et, licet imperii teneas decus Octaviani, Non dedigneris vocitari nomine regis, Donec, perscripto vitae regalis honore, Ordine digesto necnon sermone decoro Dicatur sceptri decus imperiale secundi.

Historical context:

Hrotsvit's letter in verse presents to the emperor the epic about Otto commissioned by his niece.

Printed source:

Hrotsvithae Opera, ed. H. Homeyer (Munich: Schöningh, 1970), 387-88.